L to R Archie Bonnell, His Son Charles Robert Bonnell,
called Bobby (Tim’s Father) and Bert J Bonnell during a trip to
Kansas. Archie and Bert were half-brothers.

Above, the Bonnell Brand Apple Box Label
from the Ranch

Left, Edwin R Bonnell’s Headstone at Cedarvale Cemetery at White
Oaks, NM. Edwin was the father of Bert J. Bonnell and the son of James
Harvey Bonnell whose family photos are featured elsewhere at this site.Click
here to see them.

I stumbled across this valuable,historical
Bonnell Family Resource quite by accident - I won the ebay auction for
an old post card (Top Photo) and started asking around. The material
available was rich indeed. Through Tim Bonnell I learned that Eleanor
Bonnell Shockey of Ruidosa, NM wrote about the history of the Bonnell
Ranch in 1995 and won a Special Merit Award in the Heritage Award Competition
sponsored by the Historical Center for Southeast New Mexico. And she
generously gave permission for us to put her entire article on this
web site. Thanks again Eleanor for sharing.

HISTORY OF BONNELL RANCH
GLENCOE, NEW MEXICO

Researched and Prepared by Eleanor Bonnell Shockey
in February, 1995, for the Heritage Award Competition sponsored by the
Historical Center for Southeast New Mexico situated in Roswell.

The manuscript received a Special Merit Award and was
displayed in the lobby of the Norwest Bank, along with other entries,
for several weeks.

This was the initial incentive for a long-planned project
for the benefit of the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Bert
and Sydney Bonnell who would never have known about the “Guest
years” in the life of the ranch.

Such a wonderful heritage and legacy Bert and Sydney,
as well as Ralph and Jewell, established for their descendants.

The story of Bonnell Ranch actually should begin with
the arrival of Edwin R. Bonnell to White Oaks, New Mexico, in 1880,
accompanied by his four young sons, Erva, aged 8, Harvey, 6, Bert, 4,
and Nelson, 2. Edwin Bonnell had traveled to New Mexico from Larned,
Kansas, where he had lived with his wife and young family for a few
years. Mrs. Bonnell had passed away in 1878, shortly after Nelson’s
birth.

White Oaks, Lincoln County, Territory of New Mexico,
was a thriving mining town, approaching 2500 inhabitants in 1880. The
prospects of providing a better life for himself and his sons were apparently
one of the reasons Edwin Bonnell decided to come to New Mexico.

He soon began a lumber and mercantile business and,
in time, also became a real estate and mining agent. The Lincoln County
War had ended in 1878 and records from Bonnell’s store accounts
included interesting notables from that era, such as Pat F. Garrett
(the sheriff who shot and killed Billy the Kid), George Barber (husband
of Susan McSween Barber whose house was burned in Lincoln during the
Lincoln County War), George Coe (his autobiography indicated his friendship
with Bill the Kid), J. N. Coe, Judge John Hewitt, and railroad Detective
Charles Siringo. On a non-personal note, the “Godiva Mine”
also claimed many pages in Bonnell’s books. His business letter
stated: REFERENCES: Henry Booth, Receiver, U.S. Land Office, Larned,
Kansas; James F. Whitney, County Clerk, Larned, Kansas; Pat F. Garrett,
Ex-Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico; and “All the Business
Men of White Oaks, New Mexico.”

Bonnell remarried in 1884, fathered four more children
and continued to expand his business interests until he began suffering
from complications of maladies he incurred in the War of the Rebellion
(Civil War).

In 1892, his sons, Bert and Nelson, were sent back
to Pomona, Kansas, to stay with relatives to finish school. Edwin Bonnell
died at home in White Oaks on September 28, 1893, at age 45. He was
buried therein Cedarvale Cemetery, with a military marker listing only
his name and military designation.

BERT AND SYDNEY BONNELL
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BONNELL RANCH

After finishing high school in Kansas, Bert and Nelson
Bonnell returned to Lincoln County. Edwin Bonnell, their father, had
died in 1893, so they worked on ranches south of White Oaks in the Hondo
and Ruidoso Valleys. In 1899, they began working for rancher and farmer
Frank Coe at Glencoe in the Ruidoso Valley. It was there they met two
of Frank’s daughters, Sydney and Agnes, whom they later married.

Bert and Sydney were married at the Coe Ranch on December
18, 1900, and moved into a small adobe house on the Coe property. Their
first son, Frank, was born at their home in December, 1901. They moved
a little later to the “Ranger Station,” four miles west,
where their second son, Ralph, was born in 1904. Bert continued to work
for Frank Coe until 1909 when the family moved to Dewey, Arizona, where
Bert was employed in a mercantile business for Civil Service. The Bonnell’s
only daughter, Mildred, was born in Dewey in 1910. In 1911, the family
moved to the Crow Indian Agency in Montana where Bert had been named
superintendent.

After three years in Montana, Bert and Sydney and their
children returned “home” to New Mexico. In 1915, the property
adjacent to the Frank Coe ranch on the west became available as a lease-purchase
from owner J. Landly Poole. Before it was owned by Mr. Poole, the farm
had been homesteaded in 1884 by Jasper Coe, Frank’s brother, and
was referred to as the “Jap Coe place.”

The farm was located on a highway which was a portion
of the southern route of the Southwestern United States, at the site
of a road junction which connected Fort Stanton, Lincoln and Capitan
with Tularosa to the west and Roswell to the east. This highway later
became US 70-. Two normally small streams, Eagle Creek and the Rio Ruidoso,
intersected on the property.

Bert successfully negotiated with Mr. Poole to obtain
the farm, and the Bonnells began planting fruit trees and raising hogs,
cattle and poultry to be butchered and sold to the U.S. Marine Hospital
for Tuberculars at Fort Stanton, nine miles north. Bert transported
the meat by wagon team over a rocky mountainous road.

Pickwick Stage Line transported passengers past the
Bonnells, on the highway between Roswell and points west. The place
soon became a “stop” where passengers could rest and have
a meal. The meals were served “family-style” – all
you could eat – for fifty cents per person. Sydney typically served
steak, roast beef or fried chicken, with a variety of home-grown vegetables,
homemade bread with preserved and applesauce, homemade cottage cheese
and butter, baked apples, and pie, cake or bread pudding.

At the end of August each year, the big event at the
Bonnells would be pear and apple picking as the fruit ripened. By that
time, the orchards covered several acres and additional workers were
hired from the surrounding area and Mexico to get the fruit to market
while it was still in its prime. The pears, especially, ripened fast
and maintained their quality a few weeks, at most. Sydney made preserves
and pear butter but most of the pears not sold were processed in a water-bath
in jars. (Traditionally, “pear canning time” was a family
affair; men, women and children were all involved in peeling the beautiful
Bartletts, which were then cooked and processed in a sugar-water syrup.)

As the Bonnells continued to serve meals to travelers,
they began to have requests to allow boarders, especially during the
summer months. The original house was enlarged to 18 rooms, as well
as the addition of ten individual cottages behind the main house. Each
cottage would surely be considered rustic by today’s standards,
having a double bed, small wood stove, a small table and two chairs,
and wash stand and bowl (but no bathroom). There was a common bath facility
with showers and commodes, located in the center area of the cottages.
The bathroom facilities in the main house were more modern, but the
cottage guests seemed not to mind the rusticity. The rooms were clean,
comfortable and the linens were changed daily. The price was also reasonable.
The Bonnells charged $2.50 per day per person, $15.00 per week, or $50.00
per month for room and board (three meals a day).

Bert and Sydney were “naturals for their farm
and guest operations. They were both affable and hard-working and made
everyone feel welcome in their home. They were enterprising and good
managers and Bert had gained record-keeping (accounting in today’s
terminology) experience from his father in the store at White Oaks and
also when he was employed by Civil Service. Sydney was the eldest of
the seven Frank Coe children and had helped her mother with the house
hold chores and the raising of her brother and five sisters. The experience
served her well, as she was an excellent cook and housekeepers, as well
as a loving mother and grandmothers.

The Bonnell place was bordered on the north by land
owned by the U.S. Forest Service. Desiring to increase his cattle herd,
Bert leased several sections of Forest property to provide a range for
the registered Herefords he purchased and for the horses turned out
to pasture in the fall when they began the guest ranch. (The guests
usually became attached to the horse they were assigned and when they
would write or telephone to make return reservations, they would request
that a certain horse be held for them).

There was much camaraderie among the guests, especially
the ones who returned year after year. Congeniality seemed to come easily
for everyone in the surrounding of blue skies, fresh air, good food
and little stress.

As one would imagine, the guests came from many walks
of life. There were teachers and professors who spent most of their
summer vacation at the ranch; advertising executives, business owners
and their families (one man owned Wolf Brand Chili products and the
family returned for many years), entertainers from Hollywood, artists,
and even people from England and Australia who had seen advertisements
of the ranch.

Even as far out in the country as the ranch was located
(approximately 60 miles from a sizable town), no one lacked for things
to do. Other than the obvious reading, writing, card playing and horseback
riding, the Bonnells had put in a tennis court and croquet lawn. Some
of the guests liked to take a fishing pole a short distance to a babbling
stream that flowed through the ranch to try their luck at catching a
beautiful Rainbow trout. Other guests liked to drive the short fourteen-mile
distance to visit or shop in the curio stores in the unique resort village
of Ruidoso.

The activities increased in the summertime. There would
be a dance every Saturday night at the ranch; a picnic trip to the White
Sands National Monument (60 miles sway) the n night of the full moon
each month; hayrides. There were also overnight horseback pack trips
to the top of Sierra Blanca, a 12,000’ mountain twenty-five miles
distance, for the not-so-faint-of-heart.

The Saturday night dances were immensely popular with
the neighbors in Lincoln and Chavez counties, as well as the ranch residents.
The large dining tables would be taken outside, the chairs would be
backed side-by-side against the walls in the large dining room, and
the hardwood floor would be lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. The orchestra
was comprised of family and neighbors who played for the pleasure of
the evening. Sydney’s brother, Wilbur Coe, played the violin (“fiddle”);
Sydney and Louise Coe, Wilbur’s wife, took turns at the piano;
Dan Storm, a rancher-writer neighbor, brought his banjo; nephews Elzy
Perry, Jr. and Harold Coe, brought their guitars. The Bonnell’s
son, Ralph, also played a guitar. Occasionally, someone would come in
with a bass fiddle.

The orchestra played Western, popular and Mexican favorite
songs of the day, as well as schottisches, varsouvianas and square dances.
Bert “called” the square dances with authority: “Honor
your partner, don’t be late! All join hands and circle eight.”
If there were not enough couples to complete a “square”,
Bert would grab a partner and dance with the group while he called.

Alcoholic beverages were not served at the ranch; it
was situated within the proximity of an Episcopal Church just across
the highway. During the Saturday night dances, Sydney always served
cake and coffee at midnight. At the stroke of 1:00 AM, the orchestra
always played “Home, Sweet Home.”

Because of the guest operation, primarily, Bonnell
Ranch had conveniences which many of the other valley residents in the
1920s, 1930s and 1940s did not have, such as electricity, indoor plumbing
and a telephone. The Rural Electrification Administration (R>E>A>)
did not provide the lines for electricity in the valley until the end
of 1945, so the Bonnells had a large, gasoline-operated Delco plant
which furnished electricity and powered the water pump.

The telephone was an oak wall phone with a hand crank
and a ringer box. It was a party line and anyone on the line could listen
in on a neighbor’s conversation if they picked up the receiver
during a call. The Bonnell Ranch “ring” was indicated by
two long rings and one short one.

The Philco radio was popular in the evenings when there
was no other scheduled activity. Guests and family enjoyed programs
such as “Mr. District Attorney”, “Fibber McGee and
Molly” and “Amos and Andy.” During World War II, the
family listened to the fireside chats of President Franklin Roosevelt
(even though Bert was a dyed-in-the-wool Republican).

New Mexico Transportation Company replaced the defunct
Pickwick Bus Line; guests arrived either by bus or their own automobile.
The bus also brought daily newspapers. The Bonnells subscribed to a
number of magazines such as National Geographic, Saturday Evening Post,
Life, Newsweek, New Mexico Stockman and New Mexico Magazine. Their older
son, Frank, who lived in Phoenix, Arizona, sent subscriptions to Arizona
Highways.

The kitchen is surely one of the m main “hubs”
of a guest ranch operation. At the Bonnells, there was always extra
kitchen and cleaning help employed during the busier seasons. Neighbor
girls in their teens and early twenties were hired as waitresses and
dishwashers, but experienced restaurant cooks usually were not found
locally. Therefore, the cooks had their own quarters in a bedroom across
the walkway from the kitchen.

When the kitchen was bustling with activity, family
members other than Sydney or Bert knew enough not to get in the way.
Occasionally, though, a grandchild might “edge” through
the swinging door between the kitchen and dining room to stand just
inside by the large slanted flour bin (which held 100# sacks of flour),
fascinated by watching a hired cook or Sydney make large batches of
dough for bread, pies or cakes. (And if that child was lucky, he or
she might be allowed to “lick a bowl” or be given some baked
cinnamon-sugar pie crust strips.) The scents of whatever was cooking
in the kitchen permeated through the house and the guest were always
ready and waiting when the plentiful bowls of food were taken to the
several twelve-seat tables.

The ranch provided a wonderful environment in which
to raise the Bonnell children and grandchildren. Though the offspring
sometimes complained of not living close to other play metes, they had
the advantage of becoming acquainted with people from many walks of
life and professions.

A grade school had been built across the highway from
the main house in 1920, but when a newer grade school was constructed
nine miles west, the old school was torn down and was replaced by St.
Anne’s Episcopal Church in 1934. In the 1920s and 1930s, high
school students were bussed to Hondo, ten miles east, or were sent to
Roswell, where the family maintained a home for purposes of staying
over during shopping trips or to leave the mountain area in snowy winter
months. In the 1940s, the high school-age children rode a bus to Capitan,
a round trip of 100 miles per day. Since other students began their
bus trip at Ruidoso, fourteen miles earlier, the Bonnell children did
not consider the distance so far.

In addition to the guest ranch operation, Bonnell Ranch
was a working cattle ranch and farm. Bert was proud of his registered
Herefords and strived to upgrade the quality of his herd. He was an
active member of the American Hereford Association and often took his
heifers and bulls to stock shows.

Bert and Sydney were both active participants in school,
church and civic organizations. (When Sydney went to a meeting, she
always took a cake for refreshment!) The Bonnells gave the property
across the highway to the church and to the Glencoe Women’s Club,
and they were always willing to offer their home for community meetings
and gatherings. In the fall, they traditionally had a “corn roast”
and dance; ears of corn and large briskets were cooked underground between
coals. Friends and neighbors came from miles around to share the feast.

December, 1941, proved to be the advent of the demise
of the guest operation. World War II was declared and, with gasoline
rationing, driving was curtailed. Also, many of the men who were guests
went into the armed services. A more personal event that affected the
ranch was a flood that same month that washed through several of the
cottages and orchards and deposited rock and debris in the fields.

Bert and Sydney lived quietly at home until the end
of World War II. Occasionally, they would welcome guests who still wanted
to return for a few days of rest and/or visiting. Bert was almost 70
years old when the war ended and he decided to do some traveling. He
bought a small travel trailer and drove cross-country, sight-seeing,
taking pictures and fishing. Sydney was content to stay at home, “keeping
the home’s fires burning” and staying active in church and
clubs. On December 18, 1950, Bert and Sydney celebrated their 50th Wedding
Anniversary with a large party and dance at the ranch.

The day after Thanksgiving, November 23, 1951, Bert
suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at home and succumbed. Sydney continued
to live at the ranch until 1955, when she fell and broke her hip. She
died from complications of the surgery on May 2, 1955, in Roswell.

The Bonnell’s elder son, Frank, had decided early
in adulthood not to stay on the ranch and he pursued a career as a highway
engineer and lived with his wife, Bobbie, and son, John, in Phoenix,
Arizona.

Their daughter, Mildred, attended Colorado Women’s
College in Boulder. She married a highway engineer, Marshall Sellman,
who later became a rancher and was, for a time, president of the American
Hereford Association. They lived in Watrous, New Mexico, with their
four children, Louise, Tom, Marshall (“Butch”) and Mary
Ann.

The Bonnell’s second son, Ralph, stayed to work
on the ranch with Bert and Sydney. He and his wife, Jewel, had four
children, Eleanor, Irene, David and Harvey. After Sydney died, Ralph
inherited the ranch, but he had emphysema and did not have the enthusiasm
to renew the guest operation. Neither did he have the desire to become
indebted to rebuild and modernize; too, new regulations and liability
insurance were deterring.

Another flood in June, 1965, even more damaging to
Bonnell Ranch than the one in 1941, washed away the smaller Ralph Bonnell
family home and filled the larger main house with four feet of water,
mud, cacti and debris. It repeated the previous damage to the fields
and orchards. Ralph and Jewell had no desire to move away, so family,
friends and neighbors came from miles around to shovel and mop out the
main house, church and clubhouse. It took months to clear and clean
up the driveways, shop, apple house and orchards.

Ralph’s physical condition had continued to worsen
and he passed away on September 23, 1967. Jewell and sons, David and
Harvey, inherited the majority of the ranch.

In 1972, the “face” of Bonnell Ranch changed
drastically. A new and widened highway took out the ranch house and
driveways. David and Harvey began a sand and gravel business adjacent
to the horse and cow corrals.

Jewel died from complications having broken some ribs
in August, 1990.

A new civic events center, now owned by Lincoln County,
was built in 1983 just east of the original ranch house. The annual
Cowboy Symposium is held there in October each year and has grown to
an attendance of 13,000.

Though the era of the Bonnell Guest Ranch has long
passed, the grandchildren and great-grandchildren are left with a wonderful
heritage, rich memories and an abundance of friends. It has also not
been forgotten by the visitors. Only recently, a letter was received
from one of the regular guests who asked if her ashes could be scattered,
when she dies, from the mesa on a clear and “breezy” day.